Captain Dee

The Majestic Gardens of King's Harbour, Cocovia (pic heavy)

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Greetings Eurobricks! It is my pleasure to finally present to you The Majestic Gardens of King's Harbour, Cocovia. This is a collection of formal garden arrangements and was largely inspired by the large gardens at the Palace of Versailles and Chateau Villandry (both in France) and other similar layouts. I've wanted to build a formal garden in LEGO form for quite some time, and the world of BoBS gave me a good opportunity to do this. Due to the large number of photos, I am posting a single overview pic of each build for organizational purposes first, which is followed by the story and the rest of the photos. Enjoy!

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Her Majesty's personal garden in Belson, Corrington:

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The Entry Garden:

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The Garden of Love:

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The King's Garden:

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The Parterre Garden:

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The Monument Fountain:

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The Gazebos:

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The Hedge Tunnel:

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And now for the story...

Her Majesty Annetta, Queen of Corrington, walked slowly through her small private garden, just outside her personal chambers. It was a square arrangement, symmetrical front to back, side to side, and along the diagonals. In the center stood an elaborate gold-domed gazebo decorated with various golden elements. In the center of the gazebo stood a tall column topped with a large pink glass heart - installed by her command as the reigning "Queen of Hearts." Surrounding the base were clusters of red and pink and purple and lavender flowers. A simple path of raked gravel lead from the center of each side of the square to each side of the gazebo. Along the paths were rows of red and pink flowers. Each of the four corners of the arrangement contained two round fountains positioned along the diagonals of the square. The fountains nearest the central gazebo were large and ornate, with a central nozzle spraying upward and a collection of smaller frog-shaped nozzles spraying in; while those nearest the outer corners were smaller tiered fountains that bubbled quietly. In each corner stood a tall floral arrangement, which was flanked on both sides by simple hedgerows running toward the central pathways. Large shrubs occupied the remaining space in either side of each corner. The outer boundary of the full arrangement was established by a decorated gold-colored fence.

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Portion of Her Majesty's personal garden in Belson, Corrington [50x50 / 2500 studs surface area]:

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The news of the latest colonial developments had recently reached Her Majesty, and an idea had been forming in her mind ever since. She knew well of the plans to develop a naval base in King's Harbour on the island of Cocovia - and she was concerned that this military establishment might dominate the settlement. She naturally thought of the women, of the wives and children, and this was the basis of her growing idea: the settlement should have a large garden, possibly larger than the Royal Gardens in Belson, for the benefit of the local inhabitants. While the men were on duty or at sea, the garden would provide their wives a reprieve from the lonely toil of everyday life, where they might enjoy the beauty of a structured nature and engage one another socially. And whenever the men were off duty, the whole family might visit to bask in the botanical splendor. It would be the cultural gem of the New World.

And so Her Majesty arranged to meet with one Sir David Bricksalot, a renowned garden architect who had worked on renovating the Royal Gardens in the past. On the appointed day and time, he arrived with his lovely wife Rita, and along with Her Majesty they ventured into Queen Annetta's garden to discuss the particulars. She explained her basic idea and provided many specifics, and even gave Sir David several sketches she had completed for possible arrangements. Sir David rapidly took notes in his typical efficient manner and offered his own expert input whenever necessary. Some time later, when all parties were satisfied with the discussion and it was understood that he would have significant creative liberty, they departed, and Sir Bricksalot began the task of planning their voyage to Cocovia.

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[Below is the build that sparked this entire project: the central gazebo. As you can see, it grew substantially from there!]

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And so it was that a few months later Sir Bricksalot and his wife sailed into King's Harbour on a fleet assembled by Sir Dee, with several hundred willing workers from Dee Enterprises accompanying them. They wasted no time in establishing a suitable location for the gardens. The land was leveled and cleared, trees and shrubs were transplanted, the hedgerows were formed and vast numbers of flowers were planted. Native plants were used as much as possible. Multiple gazebos were constructed and a large number of fountains were installed. Walkways were laid out. Through it all Sir Bricksalot maintained a look of quiet satisfaction. Her Majesty would surely be proud to see her idea turning into reality.

After several months of non-stop activity, the project was completed and preparations were made for the Grand Opening. It would be attended by the two men who had first settled the harbor: Military Governor of the island, Jonathan Cooke; and his close friend and naturalist, Don Isaac Montoya [both characters belong to @Bregir ]. Montoya had travelled extensively beyond Cocovia but hade made a return to the island to attend the event. A couple of Admirals and their families who were in port and several other high-ranking officers were also invited to attend.

The other attendees of the Grand Opening were invited from among the inhabitants of King's Harbour, and assembled at the towering entryway early in the morning. The general opening would be available to the public later in the day.

The Entry Garden [128x80 / 10240 studs surface area] featured a gleaming gold-domed arched tower structure fronted with a row of gold-colored columns supporting a series of arches that grew increasingly taller moving from the outsides in. Along both sides of the main pathway was a series of small fountains with one large fountain in the center of each side. To either side of this was identical hedge and flower arrangements, laid out in squares with elaborate curving flower beds in the centers and sculpted shrubs in the corners. Leading in on each of the outer edges was another series of decorative arched columns, styled to look somewhat like a castle. Immediately behind these was a row of small palm trees which had been transplanted from the nearby jungle. More shrubs occupied the space between columns on the main front, and behind these columns on each side a raised bed was planted with various flowers and a row of towering palm trees which had also been transplanted. Behind all this, the back of each side of the entryway was enclosed with a hedgerow that grew increasingly taller from the outside in, mirroring the arched columns in the front; and each of the sides were closed in with a polished gold-colored fence that was fronted by a row of cylindrical topiary shrubs. Just behind the central tower a pair of spiral stone columns, each topped with a pair of red flags, stood along either side of the main pathway. Altogether it was a magnificent sight deserving of the name that Her Majesty had chosen.

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Left to right: Sir Dee, Don Isaac Montoya, Military Governor Jonathan Cooke

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After taking in the splendor of the entry garden, the assembled crowd moved along to the first of the interior garden arrangements: The Garden of Love [112x112 / 12544 studs surface area]. This symmetric square garden featured a large central geometric hedge and clusters of flowers, with decorated double pathways leading in from the center of each side to form a giant cross. Between the double paths were two hedgerows with a row of neatly-trimmed round shrubs between them. Each of the four corners contained three heart-shaped raised beds planted in grass, which had given the overall arrangement its name; plus a cross-shaped collection of flowers pointing toward the center. The outside boundary of each corner was formed by short hedgerows and the point of each corner featured a cluster of topiary shrubs in a white-edged raised bed. Her Majesty had drawn the basic arrangement, and Sir Bricksalot had liked it well enough to construct it with only minor changes.

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An Admiral, his wife, and four daughters:

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What's a Garden of Love without an occasional kiss...

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The next arrangement was named the King's Garden [80x80 / 6400 studs surface area], after Her Majesty's late father, King Arlin. It was another symmetrical square garden featuring a large central fountain, double-path entries divided by hedgerows, and elaborate flower beds in each of the four corners. The hedges were carefully trimmed to gently slope inward from their high point on the outer edges, directing the viewers' eyes toward the central fountain and surrounding flowers. The white-edged corner flower beds were curved cross shapes with geometric hedges in the centers which were surrounded by rows of flowers on the inside and various shrubs and flowering plants on the outside.

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The Admiral and his family again:

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The Parterre Garden [80x80 / 6400 studs surface area] was next. It was another symmetric square with a central fountain and double-path walkways divided by hedges, but the defining characteristic was the parterres: symmetric raised beds with walkways in between. Rows of vibrant red flowers were planted around the hedges, and the central fountain was surrounded by a geometric hedge and several neatly-trimmed shrubs. The raised beds of the parterres consisted of octagons, circles, semi-circles and quarter circles, each housing flowers or shrubs or some kind of flowering plants. Instead of the usual grass base, the four corners of the arrangement consisted of a raked gravel surface to accommodate foot traffic, and the main entry paths were planted in grass with the walkways installed over the top to provide a visual contrast.

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The Admiral and his family again, lower left; Montoya, Cooke, and Dee, upper right:

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The architect, Sir David Bricksalot, and his wife Rita:

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The centerpiece by itself:

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A corner, closed in all the way around (unlike the full scene, which is enclosed only on the outside edges):

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The next arrangement was the Monument Fountain [88x88 / 7744 studs surface area]. Once again, it was a symmetric square, but it was quite unique among the various arrangements. Tall hedges lined with flowering plants formed the outer boundary, and high arches formed into the center of these hedges marked each of the four entry points into the garden. Low hedgerows angled in from the corners toward the center and also lined each side, parallel to the sides of the square, between the diagonals. Tall palm trees marked each of the four corners and various flowering plants were positioned throughout. A series of small raised flower beds were aligned with the arched entries. Rather than the typical paths leading straight to the center, a loop path ran all the way around the perimeter, just inside the tall outer hedges; and accessing the center was accomplished by following the diagonal hedgerows inward. A large decorated square pool circled the base of the gilded fountain, which rose to a significant height to form the massive pedestal for the monument. The monument was a towering golden spire rising into the sky from the center of the fountain, built in honor of the mythical City of Gold that had been fruitlessly sought after for centuries by bold explorers. The spire was easily visible throughout the Majestic Gardens complex.

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The distinguished guests enter left:

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...and right:

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Sir Dee, center; Sir Bricksalot and his wife, on the right:

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Ever the gentleman, Cooke stoops to smell the flowers, while Sir Dee and Montoya chat. The Admiral, his wife, and daughters somehow managed to get into yet another photo...

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One of Sir Bricksalot's associates, Sir Bradley and his wife stand inside the entry. The men out front tending the flowers are two of the resident gardeners:

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Left to right: Sir Dee, Military Governor Jonathan Cooke, and Don Isaac Montoya

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The Gazebos [112x112 / 12544 studs surface area] was the next garden arrangement, and continued the grand architectural theme from the Entry Garden. This magnificent collection of gold-domed structures was one of the most visually striking in the Majestic Gardens. The basic layout was a symmetric square with divided double-path entries, and featured the most elaborate overall design of all the garden arrangements. A gleaming gold-colored fence enclosed the entire square, save only the entryways, and inside the fence large hedgerows gently sloped inward from their high points in the corners. The elongated oval-shaped strips of grass dividing the paths featured alternating clusters of flowering plants and tiered fountains, and the outer edges of the paths were lined with red flowers and neatly-trimmed round shrubs. Each of the four corners of the layout featured a central gazebo with a gold-domed top and various other decorative elements, all of which were based on the central gazebo in Her Majesty's personal garden in Belson, Corrington. Flowers and shrubs surrounded the base of each gazebo, and rows of flowering plants marked the inner perimeter of each corner, just inside the outer hedges. Each of the square corner arrangements featured small tiered fountains on raised beds in the three outer corners, and a large flowering shrub mounted on a gleaming pedestal in the innermost corner, near the center of the full garden. In the center of the full garden was an enormous gazebo with a three-tier gold roof. The lower and outermost level consisted of four half-dome structures atop decorated arches and columns, aligned with the diagonals of the square base and the four smaller corner gazebos, and enclosed on the outside by decorated gold fencing. Immediately inside this was four more half-dome structures atop towering arches which were aligned with the entry paths to allow easy access to the gazebo. The square-base top tier was perched directly atop the second level but turned to align with the lowest level, and featured a full dome with a short spire on the top. The upper portion of the structure contained a sizeable bell that would be rung on special occasions, and the ground level featured a large tiered fountain that flowed quietly. This gazebo was a fitting centerpiece of the grand arrangement.

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The center plate with large gazebo as a standalone piece:

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Sir David Bricksalot and his wife Rita admire his handiwork:

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The Admiral, his wife, and daughters yet again:

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Cooke and Montoya:

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Eventually the Gardens would be a favorite meeting place for the King's Harbour chapter of the Queen's Club Ladies Society, as evidenced by this crowd of well-dressed women:

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Her Majesty makes a cameo appearance:

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The last of the garden arrangements completed for the Grand Opening was the Hedge Tunnel [50x50 / 2500 studs surface area]. It was the smallest of the various garden layouts but would eventually prove to be very popular with visitors. It was a simple arrangement, but beautiful nonetheless: a large tunnel formed from growing hedges was aligned diagonally on a square base, with a dome-topped gazebo sitting in the middle of the tunnel. A row of shrubs and flowers lined each side of the tunnel, and the ends were flanked by a pair of curved raised flower beds. The four corners featured small fountains ringed with flowers and decorative red glass; the two larger fountains were aligned with the tunnel and were visible end-to-end. The corners opposite the tunnel featured a cluster of palm trees, perfect for shading the benches beneath them, as well as a decorated curved bed of neatly trimmed shrubs.

[Overview pics rotate counterclockwise]

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And that concludes the tour! Thanks for watching!

For your convenience here is the King's Harbour Settlement Topic.

Notes: Total build area is 60,872 studs. (Technically speaking "only" 58,372 studs counts as a colonial new-world build, since the first 2500 are in Corrington.) This will be collectively licensed by Corrington members as a Royal Art & Culture property (with leadership approval).

I never really planned to build all this. I completed the first gazebo, intending to build a medium or large property, and it just started growing. And growing!

The use of the gold round tiles for the walkways was done out of necessity rather than preference. I don't have anywhere near enough of them in light bluish grey which would've been my first choice. But the gold color grew on me, and does look somewhat "Majestic," especially over a tan base.

I prefer more realistic development of a settlement (in this case, Bregir's King's Harbour) but I knew I had to complete this while I was still interested.

I like all the builds, but the Hedge Tunnel is probably my favorite, followed by either the King's Garden or the Gazebos.

The Garden of Love, and specifically the heart-shaped elements, was inspired by the beautiful gardens of the same name at Chateau Villandry in France.

My favorite size among these builds is 80x80. It's easy to do using standard 32-stud-wide baseplates and standard 16-stud-wide plates. It's big enough to allow room for considerable detail elements without being huge and unwieldy. In comparison, the two 112x112 builds were a pain to move around for photographic purposes (but they looked great in person!)

The characters of Sir David Bricksalot and his wife Rita are based on one of my uncles and aunts. Like me, he is a farmer - and he also operates a large landscaping business that has completed innumerable projects in the region. Sir Bradley is based on one of Dave's longest-serving employees and fellow pranksters...

There are exactly 250 ladies in printed dresses in the Gazebos scenes. Some of them aren't visible due to the 5 gazebos blocking them, but they're there. I have about 15 more... somewhere. I really like those well-dressed historic ladies, just in case it isn't obvious.

Posting this from my phone was a big pain in the wazoo... No copy-pasting image codes... Unfortunately I have no other option...

I appreciate your input. I hope you enjoyed the show. I enjoyed building it!

Edited by Captain Dee
Reason for edit: add settlement link

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That's wonderful, amazing, jaw dropping, I'm totally wordless.:thumbup:

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This is such a grand endeavor that I wish I could see it in person. I seriously envy your collection.

A couple of the ladies appear to be wearing fashions based on the religious dress of the High Priestesses of the Crahaish neh Triuri. :grin:

I wonder if Governor Cooke took the opportunity to discuss with the Queen the 'documents' in his strongbox from the uisge bottle returned to Corrington hands by the Eslandolan lady. :look:

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Wow ! Amazing build ! :wub:

You have such an amount of golden bricks ! That's astonishing ! I really like the Gazebos part of the Garden !

An excellent job !

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:drool: WOW!!  The size of this is amazing, and I love the way every single layout is unique, but still cohesive overall!  So many awesome sections... the King's Garden might be my favorite but the gazebos, garden of love, and tunnel are extremely well done also!  The way you did the paths looks very nice too.  And I can't begin to fathom how long it must have taken to pose all those figures!

As for your 250 ladies... *huh*

Just one thing I'm missing... any chance we'd be able to get a picture of all these together (with maybe the exception of the queen's garden).  I'd love to just get a feel for the full size of this!

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I think this probably sets some kind of record for several categories! Awesome job!

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I've been waiting to see this since I got a sneak peek at the WIP in January, and I'm still absolutely blown away! :pir-oh: First you've created something so expansive and detailed and beautiful that it easily stands on its own as an awesome build, and then you add all the minifigs, with such attention to detail, and the whole thing comes to life! There is obviously much to like about this build -- too much to list! -- but I feel I need to call out the technique of building hedges with those leaf pieces. Ingenious! You have me looking for excuses to add a shrubbery to my future builds. :pir-grin:

A+ sir. You win the Internet today. :thumbup:

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:oh: :excited: Wow!  I knew you were up to something large, but didn't expect it as big as this!  Awesome job once again, Captain Dee, a lot of amazing designs and layouts here - the gazebos, King's Garden, and Garden of Love are probably my favorites (those gold/tan pathways are just splendid), but the diagonal hedges and the entries to the Monument garden are excellent as well, just to name a couple of things!  

Quite a nice crowd of minifigs there too (though I dare say the Admiral, his wife, and his four daughters would comprise a crowd in and of themselves :laugh:) - the Queen's Club Ladies Society, though, is really very impressive (here I thought I was building up a fair collection with my three or so :grin: :laugh:)!

I'll echo Kai in asking if there's any chance we'd be able to get an overview of them all side by side, though (although I'm sure photography's been hard enough as is!)

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4 hours ago, Bodi said:

That's wonderful, amazing, jaw dropping, I'm totally wordless.:thumbup:

Thanks. :thumbup: I may have gotten carried away, but I was hoping to produce a realistic scale. Now I want to see this done in real life! I downloaded 100+ pics of real formal gardens for inspiration, although none of these builds are really based strictly on any real arrangements. I wanted to do a proper sunken garden, a knot garden, and a labyrinth, among others. But it was time to just get this posted.

2 hours ago, gedren_y said:

This is such a grand endeavor that I wish I could see it in person. I seriously envy your collection.

A couple of the ladies appear to be wearing fashions based on the religious dress of the High Priestesses of the Crahaish neh Triuri. :grin:

I wonder if Governor Cooke took the opportunity to discuss with the Queen the 'documents' in his strongbox from the uisge bottle returned to Corrington hands by the Eslandolan lady. :look:

Thanks. I'm glad you like it. :classic:

Few human eyes saw this project in its physical form. If I had my way no one would've seen any of it (LEGO is a difficult hobby for me... I'm not comfortable sharing my work with my family.) No one saw the King's Garden or Parterre Garden: they were built, photographed, and demolished in two days.

Seriously, my total collection isn't very impressive. I acquired many of the parts specifically for this project.

Regarding the ladies: I have a lot of them, but not a lot of variety. (I think there's 14 or 15 styles here.) Many of the minifigs in printed dresses aren't suitable for this time period; technically a few of these aren't either, like the Arwen-based figure from the Hobbit / LotR.

I'm really starting to wonder about that bottle... :grin:

1 hour ago, Faladrin said:

Wow ! Amazing build ! :wub:

You have such an amount of golden bricks ! That's astonishing ! I really like the Gazebos part of the Garden !

An excellent job !

Thanks. :classic:

Yeah, I suppose I do have a few gold pieces... :grin: The Gazebos has the highest piece count of all these builds (precisely 5001 parts) and also the most gold parts (1500+ if I remember correctly).

That reminds me of one of my Notes that I forgot to include in the first post, specifically regarding the gold-tile walkways. It was never my intention to use those 1x1 gold round tiles for the paths, but I didn't want every build to show a bunch of bare plates (like the paths in the Queen's garden, which was tolerable at best). I really wanted to use 1x1 round tiles in light bluish grey as cobblestone in a random arrangement, but unfortunately I don't have anywhere near enough of them to cover this much area of pathways. I have a bunch of those round tiles in gold color, so I used them instead. I still think it looks a little odd - compare it to the mixed earth tones of the paths leading into the Hedge Tunnel, which is so much more aesthetically appealing. But it works, and does look kinda "majestic" even if it isn't entirely realistic.

1 hour ago, Kai NRG said:

:drool: WOW!!  The size of this is amazing, and I love the way every single layout is unique, but still cohesive overall!  So many awesome sections... the King's Garden might be my favorite but the gazebos, garden of love, and tunnel are extremely well done also!  The way you did the paths looks very nice too.  And I can't begin to fathom how long it must have taken to pose all those figures!

As for your 250 ladies... *huh*

Just one thing I'm missing... any chance we'd be able to get a picture of all these together (with maybe the exception of the queen's garden).  I'd love to just get a feel for the full size of this!

Thanks. :classic: Producing a series of mostly cohesive designs was one of my priorities, but also somewhat accidental, as I was limited by the type of parts in my collection.

A random path design may have looked better, but this alternating design looks pretty good - except when viewed at an angle, when you find yourself staring down diagonal rows, which looks somewhat weird. It was easier to just stick to a pattern versus putting them down randomly though. But I must confess that removing all those tiles was a mind- and finger-numbing affair, until I realized they are much easier to remove when they aren't pushed all the way down. I tried using a brick separator, but that took forever versus using my fingers!

Posing the minifigs was... tiring, to say the least, especially since I insisted that the couples be paired consistently from build to build (except the Hedge Tunnel which was actually the second completed build, after the Queen's Garden, before I had all the minifigs picked out.)

Posing the ladies in the gazebo scene took about 1.5 hours, but fortunately their square bases helps them stand up without being attached to anything. I think only 3 or 4 fell over out of the 250, which was certainly tolerable.

I started to edit a pic to include all the builds together, but couldn't come up with an appealing way of doing it, partly because the background color varies so much, and partly because I'm not very good at that type of photo editing. This was part of the reason for why I posted the list of overview pics at the top of the original post.

As for the total size, consider this: a single 32x32 baseplate covers 1024 studs, so this project would cover almost 60 of those plates.

55 minutes ago, Mike S said:

I think this probably sets some kind of record for several categories! Awesome job!

Thanks. :classic: One reason I did this was simply the lack of good formal garden arrangements in LEGO form. Perhaps I can change that... Glad you like it!

28 minutes ago, Capt Wolf said:

I've been waiting to see this since I got a sneak peek at the WIP in January, and I'm still absolutely blown away! :pir-oh: First you've created something so expansive and detailed and beautiful that it easily stands on its own as an awesome build, and then you add all the minifigs, with such attention to detail, and the whole thing comes to life! There is obviously much to like about this build -- too much to list! -- but I feel I need to call out the technique of building hedges with those leaf pieces. Ingenious! You have me looking for excuses to add a shrubbery to my future builds. :pir-grin:

A+ sir. You win the Internet today. :thumbup:

Thanks! :blush:

It would've been much easier to just snap a few different overview pics of each build and move on, but as you say, adding the minifigs really brings any LEGO scene to life. Posing them, and taking all those pics, was an absolute pain, but worth it in the end.

I picked up 450 of those dark green leaf pieces on Bricklink, and used them all in the hedges (plus what I already had in my collection). It was mostly a matter of necessity: no other parts in my collection are really suitable for making a decent-looking hedge, especially on that scale.

In reality, I would go completely mad if I had to maintain any of these gardens, especially the hedges!

Thanks again. :thumbup:

9 minutes ago, Garmadon said:

:oh: :excited: Wow!  I knew you were up to something large, but didn't expect it as big as this!  Awesome job once again, Captain Dee, a lot of amazing designs and layouts here - the gazebos, King's Garden, and Garden of Love are probably my favorites (those gold/tan pathways are just splendid), but the diagonal hedges and the entries to the Monument garden are excellent as well, just to name a couple of things!  

Quite a nice crowd of minifigs there too (though I dare say the Admiral, his wife, and his four daughters would comprise a crowd in and of themselves :laugh:) - the Queen's Club Ladies Society, though, is really very impressive (here I thought I was building up a fair collection with my three or so :grin: :laugh:)!

I'll echo Kai in asking if there's any chance we'd be able to get an overview of them all side by side, though (although I'm sure photography's been hard enough as is!)

Thanks. :classic:

The King's Garden and Gazebos were the most impressive in person, and it shows in the photos. The Garden of Love came about entirely by accident, when I realized two semi-circles placed on adjacent sides of a square form a perfect heart. I knew I had to use them somehow, and this is the result.

The main reason for showing the Admiral and his family so much was just to show off his daughters. :grin: They originally came in 10210 Imperial Flagship, and are rather expensive as a result; I got one with the ship and the other 6 from Bricklink. They were by far the most expensive minifigs I've ever bought.

About a single all-inclusive overview pic...we'll see. I'm not making any promises... :pir-wink:

Thanks everyone for your input. :thumbup:

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1 hour ago, Captain Dee said:

...A random path design may have looked better, but this alternating design looks pretty good - except when viewed at an angle, when you find yourself staring down diagonal rows, which looks somewhat weird. It was easier to just stick to a pattern versus putting them down randomly though. But I must confess that removing all those tiles was a mind- and finger-numbing affair, until I realized they are much easier to remove when they aren't pushed all the way down. I tried using a brick separator, but that took forever versus using my fingers!

...I started to edit a pic to include all the builds together, but couldn't come up with an appealing way of doing it, partly because the background color varies so much, and partly because I'm not very good at that type of photo editing. This was part of the reason for why I posted the list of overview pics at the top of the original post.

As for the total size, consider this: a single 32x32 baseplate covers 1024 studs, so this project would cover almost 60 of those plates.

Removing those 1x1 round tiles is indeed quite a chore - I find that a minifigure-sized crowbar or wrench works the best.  Brick separators are no good for that, despite the small end on one side.  The wrench does start to dig into your finger on the opposite end after a while, but at least for me, with short fingernails, it's about the only option! 

Ah, I understand... I'm not good at combining builds either - and the size is obviously impressive nonetheless!

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I still cannot believe that you managed to put out more pictures in one post that I have published in the past five years :laugh:

Absolutly amazing collection of creations!

This post is going to be the ultimate "how to build a garden layout" reference.

Where are all these ladies and gold pieces coming from? I still do not grasp what I have seen. :pir-grin:

At least I understand why you have not been posting too much recently.  My family and I have gazed at this with great amazement - excellent work!

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Well now.. THAT is impressive! Fantastic work. And all those pictures.

Wow really, what a great garden, truly majestic.

By the way my personal favourite is this crowded picture, lovely work!

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WHY HASN'T THIS BEEN FRONTPAGED YET??? :wub_drool:

This... is... spectacular... in... ever... aspect!!! IMO this would deserve multiple royal licenses.

Faaantastic work, CD, definitely worth the wait.

Now... go build something that's even more spectacular :tongue:

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Thanks everyone for the input. :thumbup:

Here are a few bonus pics of the monument garden in its original 50x50 / 2500 studs surface area form. :classic: It was the second completed build, after the Queen's garden, and at the time I was planning to do a whole series of builds this size. But after taking the pics I knew I wanted more; it grew to the size shown previously, and the rest of the project grew accordingly. I had already edited these pics so I figured I could share them, too. :pir-wink:

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On 4/7/2017 at 11:02 AM, Professor Thaum said:

all the same...

I add "flabbergasted"

 

On 4/7/2017 at 11:37 AM, blackdeathgr said:

Gardain extraordinaire!!!

:wub:

This is a category on its own (beyond royal, beyond anything) !

Thanks to you both. :classic: I was curious to see what a realistically-scaled collection of gardens would look like. I like to build big on occasion (and to view big builds from other people) but big can be overrated. This project covers a lot of surface area but is really very simple overall: nearly everything is classic studs-up, and the combined total piece count is pretty low relative to the combined total size. It isn't advanced or complicated. A good multi-level fort or castle with an interior would be more complicated than what I've done here, regardless of size. But I'm glad you like it anyway. :thumbup:

On 4/7/2017 at 0:16 PM, Kai NRG said:

Removing those 1x1 round tiles is indeed quite a chore - I find that a minifigure-sized crowbar or wrench works the best.  Brick separators are no good for that, despite the small end on one side.  The wrench does start to dig into your finger on the opposite end after a while, but at least for me, with short fingernails, it's about the only option! 

Ah, I understand... I'm not good at combining builds either - and the size is obviously impressive nonetheless!

Hmm... I never thought of using a crowbar or wrench handle to remove small tiles. That sounds like a good idea. :thumbup:

Removing them by hand does require some fingernail length, for sure. While working on this project I tried to leave mine just long enough to get under those tiles. :grin:

On 4/7/2017 at 9:05 PM, dr_spock said:

Wonderful garden. I like the symmetry. :classic:

 

Thanks. :classic: I like the symmetry too - and it dates the whole concept to a specific time period, which I think fits well in the world of BoBS.

On 4/8/2017 at 4:13 AM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

I still cannot believe that you managed to put out more pictures in one post that I have published in the past five years :laugh:

Oh, I doubt that. :pir-wink: You've posted a lot of builds over the last 5 years!

On 4/8/2017 at 4:13 AM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Absolutly amazing collection of creations!

This post is going to be the ultimate "how to build a garden layout" reference.

Thanks - and maybe. :pir-wink:

On 4/8/2017 at 4:13 AM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Where are all these ladies and gold pieces coming from? I still do not grasp what I have seen. :pir-grin:

The easy answer is "Bricklink" but that doesn't tell the whole story. About 65 of the ladies are CMFs I hand-picked from the store shelf. Another ~25 came in sets. The rest came from BL.

The same is generally true of the gold parts, but the numbers are the other way around. :grin:

On 4/8/2017 at 4:13 AM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

At least I understand why you have not been posting too much recently.

Precisely. :classic:

But I have still been viewing every new build, just like I've done from the start. :wink:

On 4/8/2017 at 4:13 AM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

My family and I have gazed at this with great amazement - excellent work!

That's the best input yet. I like builds that are suitable for the entire family. I'm glad you all like it. :thumbup:

On 4/9/2017 at 2:36 AM, Elostirion said:

Well now.. THAT is impressive! Fantastic work. And all those pictures.

Wow really, what a great garden, truly majestic.

By the way my personal favourite is this crowded picture, lovely work!

Thanks. :classic: I hope the name "Majestic" fits but it was a story-driven name more than anything.

Once in a while I like to go back and look at your Fontonajo Gardens posted early last year. They were really nice too!

That pic is probably my favorite of the ones with minifigs, too. It's somewhat redundant but it shows the crowd so much better than the full-overview posted before it.

On 4/9/2017 at 8:00 AM, Kolonialbeamter said:

WHY HASN'T THIS BEEN FRONTPAGED YET??? :wub_drool:

Bah-humbug! The Front Page is overrated! :grin:

Don't get me wrong; it's a great way to honor nice builds and boost exposure.

And there are lots of great projects far more deserving than this that never appear on the front page. It's no big deal to me. :classic:

On 4/9/2017 at 8:00 AM, Kolonialbeamter said:

This... is... spectacular... in... ever... aspect!!! IMO this would deserve multiple royal licenses.

Thanks. In private conversation it was suggested that I split this into multiple Royal-size properties (which would've worked) but I wanted the visual effect of placing it all in one location...

...and I'm not interested in trying to extract every last bit of game benefits anyway. Maybe I'm just weird. :pir-laugh:

On 4/9/2017 at 8:00 AM, Kolonialbeamter said:

Faaantastic work, CD, definitely worth the wait.

Thanks. Your Poseidon Garden was faaantastic too. :wub:

And the wait majorly tested my patience! :grin:

On 4/9/2017 at 8:00 AM, Kolonialbeamter said:

Now... go build something that's even more spectacular :tongue:

Now you're going to give me a headache... :laugh:

Thanks again everyone for your input. :classic:

Edited by Captain Dee
Reason for edit: add links

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Spectacular build! You really are a credit to Corrington. How long did all this take you? You might have said it, but if it is, it's buried.

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2 hours ago, Mesabi said:

Spectacular build!

Thanks. This was by far my most ambitious project to date. And I didn't even build a third of the layouts on my list...

2 hours ago, Mesabi said:

You really are a credit to Corrington.

Actually... I haven't built very much in BoBS, due mostly to other demands on my time. But this is partly an attempt to rectify that.

2 hours ago, Mesabi said:

How long did all this take you? You might have said it, but if it is, it's buried.

Nope, I didn't say. Not in this topic, anyway.

Let's see... I started building in early November and finished in mid March. There might have been 25-30 actual building days in that span. The photography took about as much time as building for some of them. Counting both the original and reworked monument garden, technically there were 9 builds in the project, which took about 4.5 months to complete.

The entry was the last of this series of builds, and probably the most difficult. I scrapped the first 2 attempts altogether which added quite a bit of building time to the project - but the final result is much better. :classic:

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Stunning work Captain Dee, apologies it has taken me this long to comment! A fantastic addition to our colonies that truly glorifies the values of our great Corlander Empire!

Some very nice (and very colourful) parts usage, I especially like what I assume is a green car washing brush piece being used as a bush - that I have not seen before! The twisting column using 2x2 tiles with studs in the middle is also brilliant and something I have a feeling I will be definitely borrowing. Also that may just be the most pearl gold parts I've ever seen in one project.

Great work - all the effort you put in has definitely paid off!

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4 hours ago, Ayrlego said:

Stunning work Captain Dee, apologies it has taken me this long to comment! A fantastic addition to our colonies that truly glorifies the values of our great Corlander Empire!

Some very nice (and very colourful) parts usage, I especially like what I assume is a green car washing brush piece being used as a bush - that I have not seen before! The twisting column using 2x2 tiles with studs in the middle is also brilliant and something I have a feeling I will be definitely borrowing. Also that may just be the most pearl gold parts I've ever seen in one project.

Great work - all the effort you put in has definitely paid off!

"Great Corlander Empire." That has a nice ring to it... :classic:

Yes, those bushes in question are round brush pieces. I got them just for this project. They aren't perfect for bushes but the round shape was what I wanted.

I really like the look of the spiral columns, but be advised that building them takes a lot of patience! (Which I'm not known for... :grin: ) Since they're only connected in the center, they're prone to falling apart if they're built very tall, and getting the correct rotation of each successive piece to form a consistent and smooth spiral is especially tricky. I had them just about perfect, but they were one of the last things I placed in the build, and simply attaching them messed up the spiral a little bit, as you can see in the pics. Oh well... I still think they look good!

As for the gold parts, the majority is simply the small round tiles. Take those away and there wouldn't be nearly as many. I didn't even know how many gold parts I had until I built this. You can never have too much gold! :excited:

Thanks for the input. :classic:

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An amazing effort! Now the only thing missing is a proper royal residence to place in front of this green wonder. You've got me jealous with all the gold.

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The Majestic Gardens were not finished, and Sir Bricksalot was proud to present the latest addition: Regal Square. It was another symmetric arrangement with the usual hedges, shrubs, flowers, fountains, and fences, with a large flower bed serving as the focal centerpiece.

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The crowd enjoys the view of the centerpiece:

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The retired admiral, his wife, and 4 lovely daughters: :grin:

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(Left to right) Sir Dee, Cooke, and Montoya:

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And... someone must have told Sir Dee it was the Fountain of Youth: :pir-laugh:

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Notes: Dimensions are 80x80 (6400 studs). This was built and photographed in 2017, a few months after this topic was first posted. More additions were planned, but real life delayed that, so I decided to just add it to this topic. Happy building!

Edited by Captain Dee

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Great to see more of your magnificent garden Captain Dee, nice use of that light blue color for the fountains!  And the gold round tiles on the floor are messing with my eyes (again :pir-grin: ).

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King's Harbour must surely be the number one place for landscape architecture by now! Another great installment to the Majestic (indeed!) Gardens of Corrington!

I feel like King's Harbour needs a Versaille Palace tho complement this! Extremely impressive, again, Captain Dee! (and will this new part be available for licensing by the faction or settlement?)

Happy you showed us this part too! (And as it happens, both Cooke and Montoya has just passed through King's Harbour, so no continuity issues there!)

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